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On a comeback trail

For Sadagopan Ramesh, cricket is a profession and being a compere a hobby

PHOTO: G. MOORTHY

ELEGANT Trying hard.

There is a popular saying in cricket that "When it comes to offside play, first there is God, then there is Ganguly." But, after Ganguly? The name that immediately comes to mind is Sadagopan Ramesh, another talented southpaw.

With silken timing coupled with strong eyesight, he has been the scourge of many opening bowlers. With minimum footwork, the left-handed opener from Tamil Nadu is able to caress the ball through the covers at will.

Strong in temperament

Having come through the ranks, his big match temperament is unquestionable. His lazy elegance is a treat to watch. Right from the days when he made his debut against Pakistan, he enjoys his cricket and plays for the pride of the country.

What caught the attention of selectors and cricket enthusiasts was his courage while facing pace bowlers. He has handled fast bowlers as well as spinners with equal élan.

He was in the Temple City to participate in the 44th annual sports day of Thiagarajar College of Engineering when he shared his views and experiences about cricket in an interesting chat.

"Opening is a highly specialised area, where you should be a perfect judge of line and length and should be able to tackle the moving ball. At times, you may be handed some short-pitched stuff. But all depends on preparation and temperament of the player. A string of single digit scores does not matter as you always have the time to get back but frequent failures after you are well settled are definitely a cause for concern," he said while talking about the Indian opening batsmen's failure to live up to expectations.

Concentrate on top order

"Coach Greg Chappell has worked wonders with the Indian team as he has brought flexibility to the batting order. It has come good even in Test matches but the opening slot always belongs to a batsman, seasoned in that slot. If you have noticed in recent matches our top order has not played well compared to our middle and lower middle order batsmen. It's time we concentrate on our top order batting," Mr. Ramesh said.

Indian batsmen's weakness against genuine pace bowling is well known and there has been much talk about lack of bouncy tracks in the country as the reason.

Train curators and markers

"Of course, definitely we don't have any hard wickets to train batsmen to face genuine pace bowlers confidently. But the fault is in the system. Most of our curators and markers are traditionally conditioned to prepare only slow wickets that crack quickly and assist spin bowlers. Like coaching, wicket preparation is also a specialised field. Hence, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should come forward to organise special training programmes for curators and markers by roping in international resource persons like what they have been doing for coaches. The BCCI should also conduct examinations and grade them," he suggested.

He blamed lack of quality infrastructure as the reason for not many district players making it to the big league. "Develop stadia with all facilities, bring in international players to have a game at your ground and then see. You will have scores of good players on your hand. Many talented district cricketers migrate to the metros just because of the infrastructure available there."

Indian domestic cricket is strong when compared to any other cricket playing country.

Tamil Nadu Cricket Association league is renowned for its competitive edge. But then, there are not many cricketers from the State representing the country.

"As far as I am concerned in places like Mumbai and Bangalore, there are people to back their cricketers. When Venkatesh Prasad was struggling to find his feet, Anil Kumble, Srinath and Dravid were there to support his case. But in Tamil Nadu, there is not much support for you to fall back on," he lamented.

But he has no regrets. Playing for Kerala, he enjoys his cricket now. Though his exploits on cricket field are understandable not many know about his remarkable sense of humour which has fetched him an offer to compere a popular comedy show for a satellite channel.

He did work for a couple of months before his cricketing commitments prevented him from further continuation. Now he is hopeful of returning to conduct the second edition of the programme. With five more years of international cricket left in him, he hopes to make a comeback into the Indian cricket team.

T. SARAVANAN

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